Whistler luge track to reopen

The investigation lasted about as long as most NHL probes, so people in Vancouver should be used to it.

Less than 24 hours after Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed and died at the Whistler Sliding Centre, the luge track has been reopened.

In a joint statement, the Olympic organizing committee and luge’s international governing body blamed the athlete, and not the track for the accident.

“It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16,” the statement said. “This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident. The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.”

Despite the official findings, the organizers have decided to raise the wall on the corner where the crash occurred.

“Based on these findings the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile,” the statement said. “This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.”

The track has come under fire almost from the time it was conceived. Leading up to the Games, before the accident, many expressed concern it was too fast.

The track was built for speeds of 137 km/h but racers have been hitting speeds of 20 km/h more than that.

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